


A Colorful I Love You

by emitokki



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Dorks in Love, Fluff, M/M, a big misunderstanding, banter with a discreetly placed romance, if its even discreet, implied wonkyun, maybe it was on purpose, that maybe really isnt such a big misunderstanding, they hang in a diner and talk, wink wonk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-18 02:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15475926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emitokki/pseuds/emitokki
Summary: If you mouth the word 'colorful' to someone, there's a fifty-fifty chance that the person you are speaking to will either read it for what it is, or...Read it as 'I love you.'





	1. The Misunderstanding's Birth

**Author's Note:**

> this is based off something i just recently discovered while fucking around google, i found it really interesting, so this was born :)

The way Hyungwon grips the whiteboard marker in his hand is tight, but despite that, he can feel the marker slip slowly from his grasp and onto the small handheld whiteboard in front of him.

The timer ticks slowly and Hyungwon has yet to actually solve the problem given to him, it’s a jumble of letters that frustrate him. He can see that all the other competitors already had answers since they were holding their own boards close to their chests protectively from prying eyes.

His heart is hammering in his chest, wanting to break free. For a few seconds, all he could hear is the loud thundering of his chest, going _boom boom boom_ , it’s nowhere near adrenaline that just causes excitement to run through his veins. It’s dread, the inevitable negativity that washes over him as the sound of his heart beat blares through his ears.

Maybe he regrets joining this stupid contest.

There’s a crowd in front of him, a bunch of people he sees from different classes and some he doesn’t recognize the slightest bit, along with teachers that were looking at him and the other contestants, proud. For what, Hyungwon doesn’t know. Rather than thinking about what he could answer, he takes the time scanning through the students, looking for a certain blonde. His eyes run past sleeping students, bored students, and students that look as if they prefer to be anywhere but here. Hyungwon pulls his lips into a thin line.

The timer ticks down even louder, even faster, showing that there wasn’t a lot of time left. To all, it meant lack of time to raise an answer, but to Hyungwon, it meant lack of time to find the only person that could make him feel better, calmer.

Suddenly, he sees him. Lee Minhyuk, mouthing words, that he can’t decipher well from where he’s sitting on a plastic chair on the stage. Until Hyungwon blinks again and he--

‘ _I love you_!’

He gasps and immediately scribbles his answer, just in time to raise his board with both hands in a protruding haste that stands out from all the other contestants that hold their boards with a single hand in a relaxed manner.

Just then, Hyungwon realizes that maybe this is the worst day in his life.

He blushed immediately and hangs his head when the MC announces that he is wrong since this is only the easy round and he had already made a pretty embarrassing mistake. When Hyungwon turns to peek at what the other students had written he sees the word ‘ _colorful_ ’, a huge difference in comparison to the massive ‘ _I Love You_ ’ he had written as a mistake.

Of course Minhyuk wouldn’t declare his love for him, or anyone in that matter, in a _stupid_ competition that didn’t mean jack shit to Hyungwon.

He rubs off his answer with an eraser and looks at Minhyuk again. This time, Hyungwon sees him strike up a conversation with one of his and Hyungwon’s close friends, Lee Jooheon, a really smart student that has very adorable features, from his small eyes to his deep dimples, Hyungwon is the total opposite. He is thin, has big brown eyes (that comes with eyebags like a package deal), and isn’t smart. Most likely at all.

Did Minhyuk really mouth ‘I love you’ to him as a confession? Or were they both just really dumb?

Thinking about it aggravates him and pressures him, so he moves on.

When the competition was over and Hyungwon was ranked second to the last, he, along with the other kids, were rushed off the stage, he isn’t surprised to be greeted by a laughing Wonho and Changkyun, a smiling Hyunwoo, and a stern looking Kihyun. He looks down immediately, knowing what the duo was laughing at. He couldn’t even glare at them because the embarrassment engulfs him like a beach wave.

“Guys, stop that, you’re making Hyungwon feel worse.” Kihyun speaks up and berates them immediately with a threatening hand when he sees Hyungwon’s down expression. “He probably just got nervous or something.”

The laughter dies down at once, and Hyungwon is grateful for Kihyun to be there. 

“It’s odd, though,” says Hyunwoo firmly, a bulky guy that Hyungwon has been friends with for quite some time now. He’s a really good guy although he could be too much of a doormat to numerous crazy antics.

“What is?” Wonho asks him with a blank expression. Hyungwon couldn’t tell if he was seriously concerned, or if he was looking for another reason to laugh again. 

The eldest let’s a frown show up in his face, “The word was clearly ‘colorful’, how did you end up with ‘I love you’? Some letters are present in ‘I love you’ that aren’t in ‘colorful’.”

The way Hyunwoo looks at him felt as if Hyungwon was in an interrogation room, it prevents him from feeling calm, and it just lets the familiar heat pool on his cheeks.

Before Hyungwon can stammer a lie (he was never good at lying in the first place, so he was doomed immediately), Changkyun steps in the conversation.

“Maybe it’s because they have the same amount of letters,” The shortest speaks up, placing a hand on Hyungwon’s shoulder. Wonho nods understandingly, though, it doesn’t comfort him at all because Changkyun’s small hand is extremely cold. He could just feel it seep through his uniform. “Don’t worry about it too much, hyung. Happens to the best of us.”

“Thank you,” Hyungwon says, finally.

A small and boring conversation picks up and Hyungwon begins to stare off into the distance to wallow in his shame alone and to think unhappily about the fact that he let his hopes too high up.

Just then, Wonho suddenly snorts, “I love you” and despite his tired front, Hyungwon tries to muster the nastiest glare he could, but since Wonho grew up getting used to it, the elder eventually became immune to it and its effects.

A loud screech is heard and Kihyun jolts, placing his hand on his chest. “Where the _fuck_ were you guys? Heony and I were looking for you!” It’s Minhyuk, who walks with a slight bounce in his steps, clutching a smiling Jooheon in his arms.

Kihyun glares at them, clearly unpleased with the way some students turned to look at them due to Minhyuk’s unexpected intervention. “Could you be a little quieter? We were here all along, where do you think the contestants would go?”

“The front?” Jooheon suggests and pries away from Minhyuk’s hold to walk towards Hyungwon. “I thought you guys had to hop off the stage or something.”

“We’re Word Jumble contestants, not people that do parkour.” Hyungwon replies bitterly. He _wishes_ he could do parkour, that would be cooler than mistaking ‘colorful’ for ‘I love you’ in a competition’s third round.

Minhyuk sticks a finger in his direction, leading the others to look at where he’s pointing, which is Hyungwon. “Oh yeah, Wonnie, what happened to the ‘colorful’ I tried to mouth at you?”

“Oh, I uh… kind of misinterpreted it?” Hyungwon squeaks, and the others look at him, complexed, aside from Minhyuk who smiles and nods at him, clearly embarrassed for him. “I mean, the timer was ticking fast, and I needed an answer quick!” 

“Uh, sure.”

There’s probably nothing worse than the fact that Minhyuk, the only guy he ever liked seriously, feels embarrassed for him.

Mortification is all Hyungwon feels for a while as he holds his face in his hands. Either he’s dreaming or he senses his pride slip away, too. He feels someone rub up and down on his back he doesn’t know who it is, but he only hopes it’s not his skinny blonde friend.

“I swear,” Hyungwon mutters, “I genuinely thought you meant ‘I love you’. It looks the same, try it out for yourselves. I’m not lying!”

It’s silent for a few seconds, and even though Hyungwon still refuses to make eye contact with anyone, he can tell that they were all playing around over it. It remains quiet until a loud and elongated “Oh!” comes out of their youngest. “It does!”

When they move on from the ‘colorful’ and ‘I love you’ debacle, a new topic and slither of conversational interest fill the group meanwhile Hyungwon is left to his own thoughts.

He didn’t mind the fact that he lost the competition, definitely not. He joined simply for the cred and maybe because he could have won something (which he didn’t and mainly drained his decreasing self esteem, which is great). 

Hyungwon hates how hopeful he got when he saw Minhyuk mouth what he thought was ‘I love you’. It fucked up his entire train of thought the entire competition, because hope had filled him up, it made him happy, gleeful, and just so _so_ careless.

And it embarrasses him so much that the whole situation had just been a big misunderstanding. It’s an unfortunate turn of events that does nothing to reassure Hyungwon.

“This is stupid,” Hyungwon spits out before walking out of the campus to head to a familiar diner he and his friends always hang in after special events. It wasn’t anything too special in an outsider’s perspective, but even Hyungwon knows that that diner had been with them since day one of their friendship as a group. 

It’s a small diner that has been very comforting and special to him since long.

As he stomps towards the direction he heads to, he hears numerous footsteps that chase after him. Normally, his impulse would be to run farther away, but based on the movement alone, he knows it’s his friends, attempting to run after him, so he slows his steps and turns to them.

He’s correct as he sees his friends scramble after him, he sees Hyunwoo carry a laughing Kihyun on his back leading the group as Wonho, who’s carrying a Changkyun that’s clearly dozing off, laughs loudly. He doesn’t know where Minhyuk and Jooheon are, and Hyungwon tries not to think too much about them.

Suddenly, someone jumps on his back and he ends up falling down the rock hard cement immediately.

“What the fuck?! Get off of me, Jooheon!” Hyungwon yelps and tries to writhe away. The friction from the floor and his uniform is extremely uncomfortable and he hears laughter above him then easily, he realizes that the familiar tone of voice could only be Minhyuk. “Wait, no, Minhyuk, fuck off!”

“Never!” He yells from above him yet Hyungwon manages to squeeze out of his grasp and run away towards the diner.

He hears Wonho’s laughter far behind him, almost mocking, but Hyungwon believes it’s just due to the fact that the adrenaline probably made him giggle like a brat. (Or maybe the youngest’s presence affected him somehow, but Hyungwon just shrugs mindlessly at that.)

When he arrives outside the diner’s entrance, he leans on the wall outside and waits for his friends that are still quite far. He takes the time to even his breathing and stare blankly on the small thinning patch of grass.

Suddenly, an arm wraps around his shoulders and he turns to look only to find Minhyuk, who had a big and bright grin on his face. 

“How did you get here?” Hyungwon queries and Minhyuk winks at him. The taller blushes and looks down before biting his tongue, realizing that the action only made him more obvious.

“A master never tells his secrets,” comes the cryptic reply that makes Hyungwon chuckle.

They wait for quite a while, then. It surprises Hyungwon how fast he ran, but it surprises him even more that Minhyuk catched up to him. He spares the latter a glance and finds him humming a tune Hyungwon is unfamiliar with.

He’s beautiful, Hyungwon thinks. And he’s sure Minhyuk knows this too, due to the way he moves so confidently without any reassurance, it’s admirable and a little part of Hyungwon has to admit that he’s jealous of the way he brings himself up. 

Minhyuk had been a bully before. He wasn’t the victim, he was the opressor, and he used to harass Hyungwon and a few other kids almost daily, from dumping the contents of Hyungwon’s bag, to stealing his favorite sharpeners that had little Digimon stickers at the side. Hyungwon used to despise him with all the malice he could muster.

But looking at him now, a nice guy that looks at the future far too brightly for what it is, it’s almost unbelievable.

The change had been slow, almost undeveloping if Hyungwon had to comment. But maybe he finally learned his lesson, maybe he had finally accepted his mistake and decided to change for the better. 

Even though Minhyuk opened up to his group and told him that he had changed, Kihyun and Wonho had found him very suspicious at the time and thought that he was just playing with their emotions to get some laughing material for later, but Minhyuk _did_ change even if it didn’t come as quick as most want the process to be.

Hyungwon could never be like him, deep in his heart, he knows he could never develop character and change that much in little time and he likes him a lot for that. 

Currently, in the light breeze of the afternoon, he notices that the elder’s natural roots are showing, standing out from the bright blonde he dyed his hair with. He opens his mouth to make a comment to strike up some light conversation, but Minhyuk beats him to it.

As soon as he does, he senses tension in the air when it was light and liberating just a few pauses before.

“What would you have done...” He starts, so suddenly, his tone is calculated and serious, as if he had been planning this, and Hyungwon finds it odd as the man is normally charming and bolts into a random conversation without thinking ahead. “If… I meant to say I love you?”

Hyungwon decides to make eye contact as it’s appropriately timed, and notices how there’s doubt in Minhyuk’s expression despite the bold question. Hope, just like the one from the competition, fills him up, but it immediately deflates. He doesn’t think or feel the same way he does about him… right?

Hyungwon resorts to letting out a fake and deep chuckle. “But you didn’t. You were coaching me.”

He hears Minhyuk gulp next to him. “I know, but what if I meant to say I love you?”

It’s then in which Hyungwon notices that it wasn’t doubt, no. Minhyuk was _scared_ , nervous.

The dull afternoon sweeps away Hyungwon’s words. He knows it wasn’t due to the time of day, but he doesn’t want to admit it, because then, it’ll feel real, and maybe he doesn’t want it to be real. He’s just as scared as Minhyuk, if not, more.

It takes him a while to let out an answer, so when he does, his breathing is ragged, as if he had ran all the way back to campus and back here, to the diner.

“I--”

“Hey, they’re here!” Minhyuk is quick to point out, extending his long arm to show Hyungwon that the rest of their gang has arrived. Minhyuk probably thought he was being sneaky, but the younger knows that he had been in a haste to end the conversation. He frowns. Why start it if you were in a rush to end it?

The boys were panting when they arrived, and it’s Kihyun who pushes the door open for all of them to enter in, and it makes Hyungwon smile. He _is_ the one with the most manners despite the fact that he can be unintentionally rude at times. 

He sneaks a glance at Minhyuk who already seemed to be looking at him. But he looks away almost immediately and ducks his head.

Hyungwon looks forward and tries not to let distracting possibilities flood his head.


	2. The Misunderstanding's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What if… the ‘I love you’ I had written on the board had been meant for you?”

The diner had been playing an upbeat and somewhat catchy song when the group entered. Though most of them had nothing to say about it, Hyungwon feels as if the fast rhythm and happy lyrics are mocking him and therefore making the last bit of care he had plummet through the ground. His friends tap their feet against the floor simultaneously along with the beats of the song. It irritates him slightly.

If he has to be honest, Hyungwon’s questions getting answered is his priority tonight.

The way the conversation had been cut so abruptly and so sudden was very, dare he say, suspicious. Minhyuk was clearly hiding something, and Hyungwon can feel his theories jab at his ribs over and over, because he doesn’t know what he’s hiding but Hyungwon feels as if he does.

It’s just a matter of confrontation at this point. 

As the entire afternoon slowly shifts into night time and Hyungwon’s big loss on the competition is long forgotten, the group comically bonds over numerous topics. From mugs to random breeds of frogs, it varies widely, though odd and Hyungwon can’t seem to guess where it will head next. He just chews on his food and smiles, laughs, or nods at anything that needs some sort of reaction. It’s a sad lie, but he can’t help it.

Minhyuk’s repetitive glances are distracting. The flitting of the eyes, looking at him, to his meal, to his friends, and then, back to Hyungwon.

It’s not even the unnerving kind of distracting. It’s the kind of distracting that makes Hyungwon want to giggle and feel good about himself. It’s not bothering, not at all. He assumes this is what teenage girls in movies feel like when they undergo a transformation and all the other girls at school stare at them in awe. He feels a sort of jitter that wraps his body whole, although a subtle one.

A loud discussion about missile launching and numerous explosives (Hyunwoo pushed and started it, don’t even ask.) after, when the boys are done and the most of them look as if they’d much rather be at home, is when Kihyun decides to make direct conversation with Hyungwon in a hushed tone. It’s the first time he attempts to communicate with him for the night.

“Hey, Hyungwon-ah,” He calls, and it’s a huge difference in comparison to his usual dictative tone. “I, uh, need a favor.”

“Shoot,” Hyungwon replies, but he is very tempted to tap away on his phone. For his and Kihyun’s sake however, he listens.

“Do you mind helping me bring back the boys home? They’re looking a bit too sleepy for comfort, and I’m scared that if I let them walk alone, maybe they might get hurt or, like, fucking worse,” His hyung pleads, still trying his best to keep his voice low and it sounds like a soft lullaby to Hyungwon.

He shakes his head, however, declining him. “I don’t see why I should be the one to bring them home along with you.” He easily fakes a yawn that ends up becoming genuine, due to the soft hum of Kihyun’s tone, and he unintentionally ends up making it longer that it should be. “I’m equally as exhausted as them. Shouldn’t you bring _me_ home?”

Kihyun clicks his tongue angrily. “Ugh, of course you’re just as exhausted; forget it.” He says and walks away to try and bribe Minhyuk next, who clearly looks uncomfortable. He wonders as to why he might be, but Hyungwon decides to focus on not tripping on the oddly shaped rocks ahead of him.

Guilt hits him, it was always Kihyun who would stand up for their safety, whether needed or not. It can be bothersome at times, but wholly, he’s grateful for him, and surely, so are the others.

He steps hardly on the rock, almost as if he’s pushing it back to the ground, and he almost loses balance due to his poor and unsuccessful attempt at pushing a hard, solid object through an even harder, solid object.

It’s when Kihyun pulls his arm rather strongly (Where the fuck does he hide his muscle?) is when he almost _does_ trip, and if he gave a shit even further, he would have smacked Kihyun’s hand off of him. Except he doesn’t because he ends up getting thrown to another body, which, unfortunately, could only belong to Minhyuk.

He almost ends up leaning his entire body weight on him, but Hyungwon is quick to hold onto the street sign that stands beside him.

Minhyuk pushes him away, only slightly, though, to create space between them. “What was that for? Do you really need to bring Wonnie into this?” (Wonho looks up at the mention of his nickname, only to look back down at Changkyun while smiling when he realizes his mistake.) Hyungwon’s extremely confused as to why he _is_ brought into this problem.

“Both of you haven’t been yourselves, and it’s extremely unusual, I’m sure there’s something wrong. Although I’m unsure if it’s two separate things or two knots that connect to each other, how about you talk it out like adults and _not_ avoid each other like rats on fire!.” Kihyun frowns and Hyungwon so clearly wants to cuss a reply. But he knows he’s right, they have been acting pretty weird. Especially Minhyuk as the boy is usually the most cheerful one -- he had been quiet the entire evening.

“Ki--”

“You guys were like this ever since we found the both of you waiting outside the diner,” Kihyun points out the blatant, and Hyungwon finds himself flinching. “The both of you looked like strangers.”

Minhyuk attempts to deny the accusation, but it comes out weak and unconvincing. “There’s nothing wrong, Ki. The both of us are just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“No.” Kihyun stands his ground firmly, and the others begin to look at them. However, none of them speak up, and Hyungwon doesn’t know whether it’s out of fear of Kihyun or out of fear of intruding on something private.

As much as Hyungwon wants to deny like Minhyuk for his sake, too, he wants this as much as Kihyun. He’s stuck in between two stairs, but he still decides to keep quiet and pretend as if his presence wasn’t even making some sort of appearance in the first place.

“Listen, Kihyun, look,” Minhyuk suddenly wraps and arm around Hyungwon and smiles cheekily. “We’re fine! If Hyungwon isn’t swatting me away, that means there’s nothing wrong between us. We’re basically besties at this point!”

“If you and Hyungwon weren’t stuck in some sort of unresolved tension, he _would_ immediately swat you away,” Hyungwon cringes at that, he was right. “Also, the both of you are just extremely awkward, it’s embarrassing to watch. Solve this for yourselves. Come on, guys.” 

Kihyun waves a hand and signals the others to follow him, and they do, they follow him like a mother hen. Hyungwon watches the boys pad after Kihyun while he bites his lip. They seemed extremely curious, and he only hopes that Kihyun tells them himself, ‘cause if Hyungwon were to tell them, he might kneel over and beg for someone to smite him from above.

Soon, when the silhouettes of their friends are long gone, it’s just Minhyuk and Hyungwon now, left to stand alone by themselves in front of a random street sign. It’s quiet.

“Mi--” 

“Hold it,” Minhyuk snaps while frowning, the act alone causes the taller to flinch and move back slightly. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Hyungwon suddenly wonders as to why he sounded so angry and frustrated, possibly scared, too, when all he did was attempt to finish what he hadn’t a few hours ago. “You asked me a question, didn’t you? I didn’t even answer you yet.”

The elder looks down and kicks a stray rock that lands on the other side of the street. “I _said_ , I don’t want to hear it.”

“Are you sure that you actually don't want to hear anything I have to say?” Hyungwon smiles slightly, then decides to tease him, trying to lighten up the hard mood. “Maybe you might learn something new from me.”

“I don’t, and I’m sure there’s no way your answer is something I haven’t heard before.”

Hyungwon wonders if he meant something more to that, if there’s a connotation that he has yet to say vocally. Maybe there isn’t one, but he still continues to try and pry what he so desperately wants to hear come out of Minhyuk’s mouth.

“But my answer is extremely raw and new to your ears, so maybe you need to hear it.” Maybe, just maybe, Minhyuk’s stubborness is starting to peeve him off slightly.

“I don’t really, uh, think so. And I’ve long dismissed the question in my head for me to be open to answers for them and actually feel _compelled_ to listen to them.”

“But I want you to! You were the one to ask me, and maybe I want you to know -- maybe I want to tell you!” Hyungwon’s hands ball into fists at his sides, desperate and angry at his friend’s stubbornness.

“It was a misunderstanding, wasn’t it? That’s what you said, and that’s what I choose to believe.”

“Hyung, come on, you asked me a question,” Hyungwon inhales. “You asked me, ‘Hey, what if I meant to say I love you?’, and hey, don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”

“I don’t.”

Hyungwon loosens his grip and looks down bitterly. “And you’re a selfish liar.”

It’s even more quiet now than when Kihyun left them alone. Minhyuk is clearly persistent on shutting down all his attempts at conversation, and Hyungwon’s afraid that if he were to push him anymore, he might end up upsetting him.

He wants to push his buttons. Deep inside him, Hyungwon knows that he should do what he feels he should. But he holds back, because anything that can come out of this is unpredictable, even if he is slightly sure of what Minhyuk is hiding. There is always that chance that he’s wrong.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you home.” Minhyuk says and walks ahead of him. Hyungwon follows, hesitant.

They walk peacefully for quite some time. Though, that might be what it seems from an outsider’s point of view. Discomfort just nips at his insides, knowing that curiosity is just ripping off his focus. It’s too quiet, but Hyungwon knows how many questions lay unsaid, how many feelings are left in the dark.

“I’m sorry,” Hyungwon mutters. “I just… I, uh, shouldn’t have pissed you off.”

Minhyuk holds his hands at his back, and Hyungwon sees him rub them together. “It’s fine. I _was_ being a bit selfish. Sorry, I’m just dealing with a lot right now.”

The younger furrows his eyebrows, confused. “What things?”

“Nothing, really. They’re nothing to you.”

Hyungwon bites the inside of his cheek. He _knows_ what Minhyuk is hinting at, and even if he’s slightly elated, it scares him, because anything he could say right now could be done at probably the best possible timing, or the worst.

“Maybe you’re wrong,” Hyungwon comments. He wants to see Minhyuk’s reaction, but he’s walking far ahead of him, and all he could do is watch him walk farther away since Hyungwon’s steps begin to falter and he stays on where he decides to stand.

Minhyuk stops. He turns.

“What do you mean?” 

“What if… the ‘I love you’ I had written on the board had been meant for you?” Hyungwon asks, and he holds his breath. Minhyuk looks as if he has his own heart clasped between tight fingers. He looked bright, maybe for the first time that night.

He chuckles, “Aren’t you just repeating the same question back at me?” 

Hyungwon doesn’t know where the sudden lurch of confidence came from. It came like a tidal wave, it felt unexpected and it felt new, but all the same, it felt _right_.

He walked slowly towards Minhyuk, who, at every step, smiles only bigger and brighter despite the flickering light coming from the street lamp that looms above them.

“Maybe I am.”

The other’s smile suddenly falls, and Hyungwon stops in his steps.

“But why?” He inhales deeply, longing, and waiting for an answer that might cause him to break down. But Hyungwon won’t let that happen. “Why would you…”

“Don’t know you know how much I admire you? How much I look up to you?” Hyungwon asks him, and he’s extremely satisfied at the way Minhyuk gapes at him with flushed cheeks. “You were an asshole back then, yeah. You would force me to make you your dumb chemistry because you absolutely _loathed_ that subject, and you knew I liked it. You would steal my favorite erasers and sharpeners with stickers that are starting to peel off, and you know how much I held onto those. I hated you as much as you did Chemistry.

“But look at you now. A stark contrast. You’re amazing, you can sing so well, you can charm people so naturally, and you make me so _so_ happy. You changes so much, in such little time, I always knew that there was something holding you back. Was it pride? Reputation? Whatever it was, you easily leaped over it. And you, Lee Minhyuk, you’re asking me as to why I like you?”

He exhales.

It felt so wonderful, so freeing, so amazing, and Hyungwon was just so, so deeply enamored with the man in front of him. It felt as if they had known each other long ago, maybe in a different universe, in a different place, in a different life. He felt familiar, and it only makes laughter bubble in his chest like birds freed from their cage.

Minhyuk smiles. He mouths words, a jumble of words that Hyungwon can now decipher, even if it took hours, even if it took a while -- even if it took two heated disputes and tense expressions.

‘I love you.’

He grins, and Hyungwon leans down to kiss him, and as much as he hates to admit it, he smiles when Minhyuk kisses him back, though with more vigor and excitement. It’s long and sweet, and even though it was nowhere near heated, passion was present in the way Minhyuk gently caresses his jaw and the way Hyungwon holds not only onto the other’s waist, but also to the feeling of having the one he loves in his arms.

“For you are the sweetest, caring, and absolutely subtle man alive. You helped me more than you let on. You used to write little notes in the corner of my assignments, and whenever I read those, I always feel so, so… loved, even if they were just little reminders -- even if all of them weren’t that nice or well written.” Minhyuk reminices, and Hyungwon is surprised at the fact that he noticed, even more, surprised that he _remembered_.

After doing another page of homework that wasn’t his, younger Hyungwon would leave little reminders on the assignments that had been handed over to them that day, and he would always remind younger Minhyuk what subjects he could do by himself and what subjects he deserves to burn in hell from.

A yellow sticky note pops in his head that reads: ‘ _Your future lacks color; It’s extremely bleak. You will fall from an extremely high leverage if you keep up your asshole-ness. Good luck on Mrs. Son’s test later on_ ’

“You weren’t the entire reason as to why I changed, as to why I decided to be better, but you were a whole chunk of it.” Minhyuk grins and kisses his lips delicately. “My life’s just a bunch of fuzzy and happy images now.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been quite a short time, but i fell in love with this so hard :'((( i hope you guys are satisfied (at least a bit)???

**Author's Note:**

> This is very short, but i decided to cut this in half due to lack of time. however, i hope you hold on to this ♡♡
> 
> (find me on tumblr: [emitokki](http://emitokki.tumblr.com), i hang there a lot, let's be friends?)
> 
> (+ leave a kudo and comment if you enjoyed :))


End file.
